For the 4th Annual LIXIL International design-build competition, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma joined a team of students from the College of Environmental Design UC Berkeley, California. This unusual alliance resulted in the Nest We Grow, an eco-friendly public structure built in Hokkaido, Japan. The intention of the building is to bring community members together for...
BBM Architects in collaboration with the University of Brighton have completed the Brighton Waste House. Located on the campus of the University of Brighton’s Faculty of Arts at Grande Parade, the Brighton Waste House is a permanent building whose construction consisted of approximately 90% waste materials. As well as being an ongoing research project, the structure wi...
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, founders of design studio Barber Osgerby, have worked with BMW to develop Double Space, a kinetic installation on display at the V&A during the London Design Festival. The installation consists of two lightweight aluminum structures that are suspended in the Raphael Gallery of the museum, a space that houses the Raphael Cartoons, seven lar...
You might have noticed that one of modern architecture’s main purpose is to establish a connection between people. Recreating a social link has become a major challenge in the conception of new public spaces. But, in the case of Coop Himmelb(l)au‘s House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark, things go even further than that. This modern and complex building has been designed wit...
With two weeks until the official public opening, Gehry Partners has completed the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. The multipurpose building is located in the historic Bois de Bologne and will house an art gallery, a 350-seat auditorium, meeting rooms, educational facilities, a restaurant, bookstore and additional event spaces. Designed as a contemporary nod to trad...
Good-bye, Paris! Paul Le Quernec is putting Mulhouse on the map! His new cultural center, located in a disadvantaged part of the city, is part of a larger refurbishment effort that will eventually include a park, plaza, playground and apartments. Despite a strict space allocation that could not impinge upon the other envisioned public amenities, the architect created a s...
If you want to stand out from the crowd, you should be taking lessons from Zaha Hadid Architects. The latest photos of the Heydar Aliyev Cultural Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, once again demonstrate her ability to be different. The building seems to grow directly out of a central plaza, challenging the idea of architecture as part of the landscape rather than a simple addi...
As you might have noticed, we believe in two fundamental values in architecture: sociability and sustainability. Those are quite easy to figure out because they’re pretty much in the mouth of every architects these days, but only a few really understand the importance of these two mantras. The Vanke Pavilion by Chinese architectural firm Slow Architects sums up pretty mu...
Located on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, the heart of these projects beats for artists and preserves local tradition. Designed for a local initiative to rejuvenate island life through culture and self-sustaining practices, these studios welcome artists to geometric structures with awe provoking views of the ocean. Aside from the ingenuity of seamlessly integrating a contemp...
Over the years we’ve seen with countless projects how architecture and sound are deeply linked to each other. Recently, we mentioned an underground concert hall. The relationship between architecture and sound has been developed even further with the Sonorous Museum designed by ADEPT in Copenhagen. Now, the Danish National Museum has just re-opened its collection of ...
Pritzker Prize winner Shigeru Ban has officially completed his first permanent art museum in the United States, the much-anticipated Aspen Art Museum in Colorado. The new structure opened to the public on August 9th as part of the museum’s 35th anniversary celebration. The 3000 square meters nearly triples the exhibition space with six galleries as well as a shop, on-...
Generally speaking, architecture represents a certain permanence, something solid and iconic. Nothing is forever, but buildings grow roots in the world that seem weighty or difficult to dig up. Some architects have explored the possibilities of temporary architecture (think Shigeru Ban’s paper church in Taiwan), and even the now-ubiquitous pop-up shop becomes a form of t...
Great community spaces are at the heart of any successful urban renewal, which is perhaps why the renovation of the German city Blaibech centralized around a communal plaza and community buildings. As part of the project, German Architecture firm Peter Haimerl Architektur designed a rather curious concert hall. Tilted up at an abrupt angle, the granite-clad exterior l...
The cultural center is located in the rural Chetian Village, 30km from Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, in South-West China. The village has more than 400 years of history and is famous for its stone houses built with local materials. 41 families, out of the 207 living in the village, belong to the Miao ethnic minority, one of the oldest minority groups in Chin...
Calatrava's firm was selected ahead of eight other architects, with a design said to have been inspired by "a falcon in flight". It will provide 15,000 square metres of space for the UAE – which equates to around 161,000 square feet – including exhibition spaces, an auditorium, cafe areas and VIP lounges. Renderings also show features such as storey-high media screen...
Encompassing 160,000 square feet (14,860 square metres), the cultural centre – called Studio Bell – is scheduled to open on 1 October 2016 in Calgary, Alberta. Renderings show a large building composed of two main volumes connected by a skybridge that passes over a plaza. The design features curved exterior walls and sculptural protrusions. "Studio Bell rises in ni...
The Centro Eventi Multifunzionale (CEM) hosts a pair of theatres for audiences of 500 and 200, as well as a rehearsal space, and a foyer for events and exhibitions. A restaurant, cafe and ancillary spaces including offices are also included. The Italian studio chose to clad the four irregularly curving forms in zinc, giving them a pale grey colouring that matches ston...
The Collection Building is a new type of cultural venue, where visitors are taken through a museum's art collection, while it is being exhibited within state-of-the-art conservation spaces. The project is planned as an extension of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, located in Rotterdam's well known Museumpark cultural district. The centuries-old establishment cu...
The Academy of Motion Pictures — scheduled to open across the street in the old May Department Store building — has been progressing at a glacial pace. The Petersen — until recently — was closed for renovations. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (or LACMA), meanwhile, has been in a state of flux about its future; with one urban planning strategy under consideration ca...
on the shore, sunken roads are planted with wooded hedges that protect from the win and that become vegetal vaults to filter the light over time. these landscape elements are secular forms from the site culture, but also spaces that can be employed for the sake of the design. the cultural center is a compact 43-meter long and 11-meter high block. a covered pathway was...
The 15,000-square-meter museum building sits on 30,000 square meters of land which features reflecting pools, greenspace, a bike path and a recreational use area. The design of the elongated, two-story building respects and allows a view of the other buildings in the area, such as the São Bento Monastery, one of the most important examples of Baroque architecture in t...
the flower-like form overflows into the surrounding landscape, penetrating deeply into the lush jungle environment just south of cancún in the yucatán peninsula. made to accommodate 600 guests, the ‘JOYÀ’ theatre was created in collaboration with cirque du soleil, and provides an immersive viewing experience that’s made sweeter thanks a 3-course meal that mirrors the ...
Designed by international practice Snøhetta and Canadian architectural firm Zeidler Partnership Architects, the eight-level, 14,200 sq m building was inspired by the historical gathering spaces of the Stoas and Agoras in ancient Greece where learning was very much a social activity. Described by Snøhetta as a 'library without books', the forward-thinking design promotes ...
the man-made isle was designed by austrian artist andré heller, and hosts a range of features, including a 230m2 ‘butterfly pavilion’ by german studio 3deluxe. the park was officially opened this week, with further projects slated for construction in coming months. the ‘butterfly pavilion’, whose ornamental roof structure gives the island its defining characteristic, ...
However, the Beijing-based MAD Architects have pushed China's eighth most populous city to the top of the country's cultural league-table with a defiant flourish. Just a decade ago, a building like the Harbin Opera House could not have been made. But a combination of technological and engineering leaps, computer wizardry and fearless deep-pocketed clients has meant t...
the completion marks the end of the five year construction which sees the building becoming a focal point of the cultural island. embedded into the landscape, the form of the building evokes a response to the location’s natural elements. appearing as if it was sculpted by the wind and water, the curvilinear and fluid structure – wrapped in smooth white aluminum panels...
Global architecture firm Baumschlager Eberle and local office Christian Bauer & Associés Architectes collaborated on the design of the Maison du Savoir building, which provides a focal point at the centre of the university's campus. Located on the site of an old steel plant in Esch-sur-Alzette's Belval neighbourhood, the campus has been expanding since the university ...
Due to open in 2019, the Modern Art Center (MAC) will take the form of a white concrete-clad cuboid, with large angular chunks cut out to create a connected courtyard and roof garden. The 3,100-square-metre museum will occupy a site adjacent to Vilnius' medieval city on a new public piazza. The design is meant to act as a symbolic gateway between the old and new parts...
the jury unanimously agreed to award first prize to the joint team of barcelona-based studio MX_SI and SPRB, a practice based in guadalajara, mexico. the competition had attracted 171 submissions, with the future facility scheduled to open in 2017. the scheme opens up the museum through the formation of a continuous space between the adjacent plaza and the ground floo...
Rotterdam-based Shift added the three unusually-shaped buildings to an existing science and technology museum called the Continium Discovery Centre. The new large complex has been rebranded as Museumplein Limburg. It is located on the outskirts of Kerkrade, a town on the Dutch-German border. Cube is billed as the first dedicated design museum in the country, while ...
Rotterdam firm Studio Marco Vermeulen carried out the renovation of the Biesbosch Museum – a building with multiple pitched roofs – and added a new wing for contemporary art. The local history museum is located on a newly formed island in the De Biesbosch National Park, a wetland area surrounded by willow forests to the south-east of Rotterdam. This setting prompte...
the intentional deletion of historical memory in order to envision a post-historical age, and the degradation of the public realm. in order to respond to the task of restoring the historical knowledge and the re-establishment of the public sphere, the design adopted metaphorically, the paradigm of the anatomical theater. the ‘theatrum anatomicum’ functioned during the...
conceived by design and real estate developer robbie antonio, the revolution project unites more than 30 of the world’s preeminent architects, artists, and designers to create a series of technologically advanced yet cost-efficient living spaces. named ‘volu’, zaha hadid’s contribution to the collection is a contemporary dining pavilion. the structure presents a bold ...
it has now been revealed that the proposal from SANAA will be constructed in budapest’s vársoliget city park, as part of a large cultural masterplan that involves the development of five new museum buildings. the museum will be joined by a design from fellow japanese architect sou fujimoto, who will complete the site’s ‘house of hungarian music’. the project is curren...
Rather than using technology to impress visitors at the Milan Expo 2015, the Austrian national pavilion is investing in the power of nature. Spearheaded by architect Klaus K. Loenhart, the pavilion contains a dense natural forest complete with 12-meter trees that stand taller than most of the other pavilions. The forest creates a refreshing, oxygen-rich micro-climate tha...
